Asus M50VM

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Asus M50VM laptop.

This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Asus M50Vm. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Asus M50Vm page on LapWik.

Notes

Graphics

The NVIDIA Geforce 9600M found in the M50VM is not directly supported by X.org yet so you will need to use NVIDIA's proprietary module. See the details in the guides section for installation instructions.

Wireless

Support for the Intel WiFi Link 5100 will only be added in the 2.6.27 version of the kernel. So you need to use a very up to date Linux distributions such as Fedora 10 or Ubuntu 8.10.

Sound

Sound works in ALSA with “options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig” to the file /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base. This will not not mute speakers if headphones are plugged in. Upgrading to ALSA 1.0.18RC3 will fix all issues with the sound. (confirmed in Ubuntu 8.10RC 64-bit)(discounted in Ubuntu 8.10 32-bit, speakers still don't mute when headphones plugged in)

Camera

The webcam works with the UVC module. Some distributions (such as Ubuntu 8.04) include UVC but others (such as Fedora 9) you will need to install. Have a look at our guides section for details.

Summary

A little bit of tweaking is required to get the Asus M50VM running well but as long as you are using kernel version 2.6.27 or higher this laptop works just fine.

Installed Sabayon on Asus M50VM. Everything works flawlessly, except for the screen where it always auto-dim at boot. Also, it seems that “asus-laptop” is not installed (i.e. /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop” doesn't exist).

guy, 2009/01/22 06:44

Installed fedora 10. Sound only works after switching it to oss. Video was fine out of box, upgraded to linva drivers. Works fine. Bluetooth worked fine, wireless will not connect anymore. It was sorta working previous to a fresh install. It would drop the connection every hour or so, but since fresh install, nothing. LAN works fine.

Does anyone know if this will allow right-clicking and middle-clicking by tapping certain areas on the touchpad on this model of laptop?

Janux, 2008/11/30 17:01

I recently discovered the reasons while the Wireless (atheros) wasn't connecting to any wireless even with the card showing up and running.

Remember the options in Vista to disable the wireless and the bluetooth devices? well, there is an option to do this in linux, with the asus_laptop kernel module, that has also some more options to play with.

So “enabling” (setting a “1”) for the wireless card from this path in the kernel, we are able to connect to the networks (tested in Kubuntu 8.10 with base kernel 2.6.27-7 and 2.6.27-9 -last version from ubuntu-)

These is the location of the options that the asus_laptop:

/sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/

This is the “file” list saw with: ls /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop

ls_switch #Brightness switch - “1” Auto control (Light sensor)

# “0” Manual control (button keys)

command: echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/wlan

ls_level # It's set to “0” by default and don't know what it does yet. command:

display # It's set to “1” by default and don't know what it does yet. command:

also to control the brightness execute commands like:echo 2 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/ls_levelwhere 2 is replaced by any integer value from 0 to 15 inclusivelower numbers are dimmer display brightnessyou can make yourself some fine and dandy shell scripts from that

Lr5, 2008/11/22 15:21

Ubuntu 8.10 on Asus M50VM-AS023C

Ubuntu LiveCd install does not work on M50VM-AS023C, apparently the cd drive does not work properly under Ubuntu.

Installing Ubuntu using Wubi works, the only problem is that the default firewall trial program preinstalled might decide that Wubi is dangerous and should be prevented from doing anything. Disabling the extra firewall options solves the problem and Ubuntu installs fine.

Sound did not work at first but that was easily solved with the modprobe file edit mentioned on this page.

Compiz works fine after choosing to install the recommended restricted drivers, no problem with anything related to the graphics card.

Using the Wubi installer and applying the sound fix seems to result in a perfectly working Ubuntu, I haven't seen anything strange yet.

piter, 2008/11/13 16:02

ubuntu 8.10 m50vm-b1

on Ubuntu 8.10 I got sound working with alsa 1.0.18a and “options snd-hda-intel model=m51va” line in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base (options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig did not work). wifi on 8.10 works out of the box, unlike on 8.04 where it didn't work at all.

Dan, 2008/11/12 08:21

Fedora 10 preview

I installed Fedora 10 last night and the results give me hope that my laptop (M50VM-A1) will soon be usable with Linux. The sound worked on the initial boot but no longer functions. The LAN works. The wireless sort of works: it recognizes my wireless card (an Atheros) and last night it actually detected my University's wireless network but would not connect. The webcam appears to work perfectly out of the box. Hopefully all these issue will soon be resolved

TheHorse, 2008/10/27 01:32

Suse and Sound

I'm also using the ASUS M50VM with SuSE 11.0, and almost none of the peripheral devices and function keys are working (properly). Even standard network sometimes fails to work (wireless doesn't work at all). And also I've tried out a lot of kernel modules and settings I didn't manage to make the sound card working. I think, I'll wait for the Ubuntu 8.10 Release…

Sebastian Eslava, 2008/10/25 09:40

Wireless and Sound

I have an ASUS M50VM B1, First I installed OpenSuse11.0 and I had many troubles, then I installed Ubuntu 8.10 Beta with Kernel 2.6.27 and both wireless and sound are working properly. I´m using Nvidia drivers, if you have any doubts you can send me an e-mail with your questions sebastian.e.g@gmail.com

The_N3rd, 2008/10/15 09:33

Ubuntu and Wireless

I currently own the M50VM-B1 model. At the moment, ubuntu does not play well with this laptop. First, couldn't do a liveCD install (squashFS errors no, not a bad burn) so I had to use the alternate install. Nvidia drivers don't work out of the box, so I used Envy for those. Not sure about sound or webcam. Fingerprint reader works (fprint) but I recommend against it. There is an ambient light sensor fix to regain control of brightness. But most disappointing to me was the wireless. I'm not sure if it is specific to the B1 model, but I do not have the intel card, but an ATHEROS AR928x wireless N card. I used this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5535562&postcount=3) but to no avail. Network-manager does see wireless networks now, but fails to connect, and eventually does not detect them at all. If anyone has success with the wireless, please email me at nerd(a)officialnerd.com. Thanks, and I hope something here was helpful.

Janux, 2008/11/24 08:31

The ATHEROS AR928x wireless N card is fully supported since kernel 2.6.27-rc8, I mean, with the current ubuntu kernel you can connect to wireless without encryption (no wpa support), but from the .27-rc8 version I was able to connect to my wireless using wpa/tkip…

this is the link of my .config file that I created for the m50vm-b1 from slackware (32bit).. in case anyone wants to try, and remember that for *ubuntu's you should compile alsa as a module..

I've installed Fedora 9 twice on M50VM ID:1B.Both times sound would work on some boot ups, but mostly it doesn't. Currently have both Gnome and KDE and cannot find any obvious error or log entries for why it doesn't work. The hardware seems to be correctly identified, but neither ALSA nor PulseAudio consistantly work. The fact it has worked on some occasions indicates it can work. As they say, if it happened it's possible.I'm on the verge of trying SUSE11 or either Mandriva2008 or wait for the 2009 release.Ubuntu8.04 install would fail reading it's own file system during install.

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